Favourite Five

2012 is almost over and I hope 2013 brings you all a happy and healthy year!

Funny old day for me - but Debby once again has come to my rescue on what is always a difficult day  as today would have been Mum's birthday....   

so I am here in the craft space fiddling about with a project and then I remembered Debby's Annual Favourite Five Fest !!

So here's mine from 2012- (and OK I know there's more than 5 but I couldn't decide....LOL)

First one is my shabby Paris themed card - complete with shrink plastic Eiffel Tower - chosen because I managed to finally get the hang of the sewing machine!

 Next  up - a commissioned Easel card - and one of my fave LOTV stamps 'cos I love the way the baby is holding the comfort blanket....

 Couldn't not include one made with the Graphic 45 Curtain Call papers -  made a set of these 'cos I love the drama of them

another from LOTV - check out that stitching!!! LOL  Am now wearing out the sewing machine!

 This next one was chosen because I finally managed to follow something that was published in a magazine and used a mask to cut out the papers... and used a bit of my fave bling.. and made some of my fave paper roses....LOL

The wonderful Fifth Avenue papers were finally cut into for this card... and I made a grungy flower!

 .... a commissioned wedding card inspired by Pinterest  - I loved making this and the recipients happily loved it too!

I have included this one as 2012 was a year when I mastered my fear of 'one layer' and CAS cards

This one makes me think of warm sunny days.. (which have been in short supply here in 2012!)

and my final one - so we can pedal into 2013 leaving all the bad things behind..

I hope you've enjoyed my little review of  some of my 2012 makes.

Debby is offering candy for one lucky person taking part  in her fave fest so share your makes over on her blog on the link at the top of this post to be in with a chance!

x

No green bottles on the wall....

How many got perfume for Christmas? Use it up and save the bottle...

How many drank alcohol at Christmas - go rescue your bottles from the recycling bag.... 

I have been DESPERATE to have a go at altering a bottle! And as Christmas is the time for wishes to come true (well it is if you're 6 years old isn't it - cos Santa never lets you down....) I decided to make one of my own wishes come true and here is the finished article.... 

Looking at other examples of altered bottles, they all seem to be marked as 'vintage' and range from old green cough mixture bottles to any other type of old glass. 

When I bought this house the outdoor space was a field (I kid you not!) - and systematically it was cleared and turned into a garden - at the time I dug out lots of old bottles - and threw them all away! Grrrrr!!! 

So my first attempt was governed by what bottles I could lay my hands on at the present time and I decided against trying to do something with a small perfume bottle in case I made a mess of it but this is recycling at it's best - cos I used a small salad dressing bottle to experiment with...

I stuck with the vintage theme and the bottle has been covered in all lace, ribbon and trimmings from my stash box and a key and heart charm added. I also used thinned down acrylic paint to randomly give the bottom lace layer a pale pink wash.  

The lovely decoration here on the right was a present from Cindy to either 'hang on the tree or use in your art' and I thought it just looked as if it belonged on here - so please click on it for a better look and thank you Cindy.

No cork top or fancy stopper in salad dressing bottles is there so after layering with all the lace and trims I finished the top with a large pearl and crystal button from Imagine.

I can honestly say I really enjoyed making this and have saved up my 2 - (yes only TWO) -  individual little wine bottles that I had on Christmas Day to alter. 

Am submitting my little bottle into the following challenges -
C.R.A.F.T - Not a Card
Craft Your Passion - Alter It
Divas by Design - Anything Goes
Fab n Funky - Ribbon/Lace
Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes
It's all about the Vintage - Lace Dream
Craft My Life - All Crafts Challenge
and this is my second entry into Crafty Cardmakers - inspired by the song -Time In A Bottle' 

I hope you all had a lovely Festive time over the holidays whether you celebrated Christmas or not - and I hope you like my share for today! Thanks for visiting. x

Favourites?

Christmas Eve is here and if you're like me you'll all be wondering now where the last year has gone...... is it only when you're getting old(er) that time seems to go fast? LOL

Debby is hosting her annual 'Favourite Five Christmas Cards of the Year' so I am playing along again (have shoved the small pile of ironing into a basket in the pantry and shut the door....it will still be there on 1st January so I am not worrying about it now!)
Here are my favourites - some you may have seen before, some I didn't get round to posting -

First up is a vintage themed card with the central image printed onto fabric- picked because it contained all the things I like to use - embossing folders, dies, crystals! And of course the sentiment is so true.

 

Next is a variation on a bright pink card I shared - done this time in an Aqua colour - chosen because I enjoyed the change of stamping in a different colour

Third on my list is gold glittered leaping reindeer-you can't have too much bling at Christmas!

  My next choice is a commissioned card made for a Baby's First Christmas picked because I had fun making it

 and finally -

well- you didn't think I would leave off one of my current favourite stamp companies did you?! 

I found it really hard to only pick five... and I hope you like my choices!

Am currently playing about making lots of mess with a couple of projects designed to keep me busy over our Christmas in between the eating (!) and it's a change from making cards - I am so lucky to be able to make as much mess as I like out here and not have to bother about it upsetting my (unusually) tidy house!

To everyone who visits me I wish you all a wonderful Christmas, thank you for taking the time to comment on my creations and thank you for the inspiration I get from your fabby makes!

I hope Santa brings you everything you wish for and no doubt I will not be far from blogland over the next few days - in the meantime here's a card for you all (and for Di's Crafty Snippets!) x

A Krafty Christmas

I love Wet Wet Wet - the band that is not the weather and I hope you've all done your shopping - cos if it's as bad where you are as it is here you'll all be like drowned rats by now!
I (she says smugly) have no shopping left to do - got most of the food (which in OH's eyes is the MOST important thing about Christmas- LOL) and all that's left is a few fresh bits which can be bought in the village, a quick run round with the hoover which I will be leaving till tomorrow..... and a few bits of ironing ... which I will be leaving till tomorrow.... !!

 I have had this Papermania paper and stamp for ages and each time I have gone to use it, the mojo has gone walkabout. Having invested in the Kraft card stock this year I was happy to note that the paper actually looked OK next to it! So made a few of these to send - they are relatively CAS and were quite quick to do.

I used Stazon Forest Green on the stamp and it's actually a really good colour match to the paper!
Couple of die cuts in green card to back the main stamp and the greeting and organza ribbon from my stash. 
Finished it all off with a few red pearls - well it IS Christmas after all!

Challenges -

Stampin' for the weekend - Anything Goes
Card Crafters Circle - It's Christmas
2 Sisters - Krafty Christmas
Pretty Little Ribbon - It's Christmas
Visible Image - Christmas
 
 I hope you're all not completely 'Christmassed' out - just think - this time next week it will all be over!!!!!!!(And you'll be looking forward to 2013!) x

Tag

I don't normally make many tags for presents - mainly because we don't buy or exchange a lot of presents at Christmas! So apart from a few close friends and each other there's not a lot of call for tags (or wrapping paper!) LOL
Over the last couple of years OH and I have not exchanged presents either but this year we thought we would just buy each other one little token - OH already knows what he's getting 'cos he sent me the link to order it!!! (Otherwise I'd have definitley bought the wrong thing!) - And he says he still wants it wrapped up so he can open it on Christmas Day.. so I had to buy a whole roll of wrapping paper for this present that measures about 10" by 8"!!!!
In honour of the wrapping paper (which is Kraft based) I made this tag to go on it.

Kraft tag stamped with a music script then gold embossed round the edge. It was a bit daft stamping the entire tag then covering it but I wasn't thinking at the time......doh!

Script paper distressed, embossed and layered on top.

Gold spiders webby stuff ripped and stuck on right hand side and a metal poinsettia corner attached.

The vellum greeting is from a Papermania set I bought last Christmas (and never used - no change there then) and I glued on a couple of snowflake buttons.

Stamped the Father Christmas image onto Kraft paper then cut it out. I painted it using Distress Inks and used a white gel pen dotted onto the beard and hair then rubbed it in with my finger before it dried.  

I punched a hole in the top of the tag and threaded through some ribbon and attached this beautiful vintage cotton crochet 'star' with a Christmas brad.
The fabric metallic reindeer is from my stash and I finished the tag with some vintage cotton lace along the bottom edge.

Challenges -
Crafters Cafe- Tags
Crafty Creations - Seasonal Tags
Frilly & Funkie - Make a Tag
Little Red Wagon - Christmas Tag
The Pink Elephant no 179 - Holiday Tags
Sentimental Sundays - Christmas Tags
Craft Room - Make a Tag
Holly Jolly - Vintage Christmas

Hope you're all not getting too stressed out about Christmas - as we don't have to worry about anyone else but the two of us our Christmas is traditionally quiet  - 
but we did put up some lights outside yesterday and have put a tree on the landing in front of the window so it can be seen from the lane! 

Oh and please say hello to my little friend who stands 3" tall and changes colour when my PC is switched on....
 

Snowflakes

Have promised myself a day doing as little as possible today! 
Spent from 8am to 8pm on my feet yesterday - we did our usual Christmas meal at the Club - 46 people all sat down for Roast Beef, followed by Christmas Pud then cheese and biscuits with lots of choccies and mince pies thrown in, quick raffle and a couple of games of bingo. It's a lot of effort as we have to cook meat etc at home the day before and then try and cook roasties in the Club oven... which has steadfastly refused to follow suggested cooking times and part cooked spuds take 2 hours instead of 30 minutes! 
It's actually quite stressful as we always feel under a lot of pressure to please everyone.
Everyone seemed to enjoy it though - thing is that next day I feel like I've been run over by a bus as the top half of my back and neck do NOT like me standing all day and stretching up and down to get stuff in and out of ovens, and OH isn't too hot either - so after 4 years we've hung our Christmas aprons up for the last time!!

Here's another Christmas share for you today -  in a colour I wouldn't associate with Christmas at all!

Randomly stamped a greeting and a variety of snowflakes onto cream card in Sepia ink, added some ribbon and flowers then mounted it onto the background paper which I'd edged with a scallop punch. 
Layered it all onto cream card.
Popped a few sparkly gems into the centre of the snowflakes, dusted the flowers with some Stickles to make them look 'frosty' and finished with a couple of pearl pins.

Challenges -  
Crafty Sentiments - Snowflakes
Incy Wincy - Christmas with Snowflakes
Lexi's - Snow
Cards Galore - Christmas
RRR- Anything Goes plus ribbon
Stampin' for the Weekend - Let It Snow
Dutch Dare - Snowflakes
CRAFT - Winter
Pan Pastel - Anything Christmas

We have a beautiful sunny day here - I hope the sun is shining where you are!
Thanks for calling by - and if you've find time to comment I really appreciate you taking the time.  
  

Cold Feet

Hello from a wet and windy north west of England! 

It's been a few days since I shared anything - and all I have for you is a card made from scraps! And for the first time I am sharing it over at Pixies Crafty Snippets.
It's not a very exciting pic either - I took it before the card was even finished - it's minus it's greeting and just stood on a piece of white paper! 

I got a bit carried away with the Twiggy Tree die when it was lying about on the desk during the recent mammoth 'Christmas Card Make' and I cut out enough trees to destroy a rain forest - and then in my 'tidy' mode I scooped them all up into a neat pile and left them there!

The little red bird was also a ' cut out just in case' thing - I have got into the (bad?) habit of cutting more than I need 'just in case' when I'm assembling something in anticipation of me making a mess! 

Birdie was waiting in the wings (sorry about the pun) if Robin wouldn't sit nicely in the Secret Garden, - Robin behaved himself but his twin brother turned red with anger as he really wanted to have a nice shiny birdhouse and moss around his feet! 

For his penance he is destined to spend his life in a cold and frosty tree in a place with blue glitter paper sky and lots of snow on the ground..... (actually he's been sent complete with a suitable sentiment attached to the top left to a friend who no doubt will allow him to get warm on her mantlepiece....)


Challenges -
Use It Tuesdays - All about Christmas
Unstampabelles - Christmas
Paper Shelter - Two of anything
ABC Christmas - Punch/Die
Hooked On Crafts - Christmas 
Papelito's - A Touch of Red

Enjoy the rest of your day whatever you're doing. x

  

Today is a beautiful day here - blue skies and lots of  crisp white frost - cold it may be but I really like the cold when the skies are as clear as they are today!

So crisp and white outside and also here.... with a white and silver wedding card!

Even tho' the happy event isn't until this weekend there's no danger of the recipients seeing this as it's a commissioned card. I have however met the lady in question and she is a lovely girl and I hope they have a wonderful life together.

As with all things white and pearly it was a nuisance to photograph but really enjoyed making it as it gave me an opportunity to just use die cuts for the whole thing.

I seriously enjoy making these paper flowers and just popped behind some punched out leaves in silver mirri card. 

I don't have a heart die cut so I cheated and used the discarded bits from the corner flourish and stuck them onto some embossed card then cut round them - et voila -two hearts! More discarded bits used as the flourish from the hearts and the flowers.

Silver mirri put behind the centre greeting which I printed out on the PC, silver wedding rings were from my stash and finished with a tiny punched out butterfly and a couple of sparkly gems.

Challenges - 
Card Mania - Wedding
Crafty Cardmakers - Inspired by words from my favourite song of all time -Jim Croce's 'Time in a Bottle'
                               (I've looked around enough to know,That you're the one I want to go through time with)
 Bunny Zoes - Celebration
Card Crafter's Circle - December Celebration
Fun with shapes - Hearts 
Wags n Whiskers - Anything Goes

Thanks for looking - stay warm! x

Morning everyone - and a big hello to my new followers!

Have a   BIG favour to ask............ I am walking on the Red Carpet after having been nominated for an Oscar! Well not quite an Oscar really but you get the idea!

Please could you go to Red Carpet Studio and register a vote? If you scroll down the sidebar on the right you'll see my name under the 'Black and White Layouts'.

Voting runs from today until 15th December - and if you want to see details of my entry it's HERE  on my blog.

Thanks to you all and enjoy your day whatever you're doing. x

Away from the Norm

Have had a lot of fun making this little project - it made a great change from the Christmas cards as I was definitely beginning to get all Bah Humbug! 
Am not really a Christmas person anyway - just cannot get excited about it at all and although I like making seasonal cards I needed something else to do in between all the snowmen and glitter.

Warning now - this may be a rather picture heavy post -

My altered spool is a Studio 490 Art Part.
I started by covering the two bases and cylindrical stand with paper from K and Co 'Madeleine' paper pack and then stamped it with Peeled Paint DI and a 'crackle' stamp.
 
I made the two similar coloured flowers from grungepaper cut out with nesties, colouring with Barn Door, dried Marigold and Mustard Seed DI  and using black this time on the 'crackle' stamp, before giving them a coat of Mod Podge. The flower centres are two buttons from my stash.

The other flower was made using a flower stamp which I have owned for eons from the Stamp Bug. Stamped it, cut out and assembled together with a black dew drop in the centre, then a liberal coat of glossy accents.

The flowers were then stuck onto coffee stirrers ('obtained' from a well known high street coffee store- LOL) which had been coloured with Walnut Stain DI.

The leaves are Maya Road chipboard pieces again painted with Peeled Paint DI.

Out with the metal next - stamped the words and large flower using Stazon then cut out the flower.  The birdhouse is a Marianne Die.

No birdhouse can be left without an occupant! The little birdie is from the same die set and I coloured him with distress inks too - tried to make him look like a robin! 

Finished off with a ladybug from my stash and some fibres which during my recent 'tidy and clear out' I found in a small jar which had less than a teaspoonful of 'flower soft' in it - so before the jar went in the bin, it's contents were glued onto the fibres so that birdie can keep his feet warm! 

My little creation is now sitting on one of my newly put up shelves and I hope you like it!

Even with all the Christmas stuff going on I DID manage to find a couple of challenges -

TIOT - Lets Get Inky
Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes
Crafty Bloggers Network - Anything Goes
Crafting 4 All seasons - Flowers
Totally Stampalicious - Anything but a Card

Am glad you found time to pay me a visit today - enjoy what is left of your day! x

Pass me a blanket!

My goodness it's COLD!!! We've missed the snow that has dropped in a lot of places but we've had sleet, hailstones and the wind chill factor is unbelievable - glad to be here in the craftie space with all the heaters on!

Have been busy finishing a couple of things -  which I will share over the next few days and today's share is a bit of a change for me... this is the first time I have used Kraft card stock! Can you believe it???? No idea why I've never used it before - have made several Christmas cards with the pack I bought LAST YEAR (!!!) and I'm quite pleased!  

Which is more than I can say for this picture.... pleased I am NOT! But the light here has been so bad lately, it's really difficult to get a decent photo.

And because the photo is not the best the 'snow' doesn't show up at all well. The card used has glittered spots all over it and it's really sparkly... I just tore the edges and layered it using foam pads. You'll all have to believe me when I tell you it looks quite good 'in real life'!

Snowflakes are all embossed with WOW White embossing powder. Reindeer was stamped with Versamark as was the sentiment.
Ribbon from stash.

Challenges -
Crafty Creations - Winter
Divas by design - Snow Scene
Inky Impressions - Snow/Winter
Perfect Sentiment - Let it Snow
Holly Jolly - Bingo - Snow/Reindeer/Glitter
SOS - Snow theme
Cupboard Trilogy - Frosty Winter

Thanks for visiting me today - off for a hot drink to warm me up! x

Shabby Christmas

A warm welcome to my new followers  Carol, Caroline and Nikki- it's lovely to see you and thank you for visiting!

Have been on a bit of a whirlwind card make the last few days with the Christmas cards - hope I am now finished - !!! I am beginning to think I am sickening for something as it's not my usual style to be organised - normally I am 'last minute annie'...LOL (I may yet live up to that as I hate addressing the envelopes - so will probably end up leaving it for as long as humanly possible!!!!)
Most of my cards this year have been quite CAS but I have done a couple of more elaborate ones (only cos I got bored!)

Here's today's share -  which is all printed onto linen textured card stock.

 I used basic cream card and the background paper is I think from Papermania - cream with gold foiled spots...

I distressed the edges then added some WOW Ultra fine gold embossing powder randomly.

The  music paper got the same treatment!

I was a little less 'heavy handed' round the edge of the tag but embossed as much as I dared, popped in a gold eyelet and threaded some cream organza ribbon through it then used more ribbon and tied into a bow.

I used some gold stringy fabric type stuff behind the music print - have no idea what this is called!! And finished it all off with a couple of bronzey gems and a Christmas French Horn charm.

Challenges - 
Craftymess - Vintage Christmas
Fussy and Fancy - I Love Christmas
Sugar Creek Hollow - Distressing
Sisterhood of Crafters - Embossing
Jingle Belles - Anything Christmas Goes 
Sparkles Christmas Forum - Button or Bow
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

We had a real heavy frost this morning and it hasn't disappeared completely, but at least it's stayed dry! Thanks for calling in and if you've left me a comment I really appreciate you taking the time. x